Clare County Council yesterday threatened High Court action against a number of Travellers who are seeking to prevent the development of a €2 million halting site earmarked for them on the outskirts of Ennis, writes Gordon Deegan
As part of the council's Traveller accommodation programme, six Traveller families are to be accommodated in three houses and three halting bays at the Beechpark halting site, 2kilometres north of Ennis.
The families are living in a temporary halting site and on Monday evening a number of those Travellers to be accommodated at the new site prevented contract workers from carrying out further construction work on the site.
The Travellers had planned to prevent work continuing again yesterday morning but the council's solicitors sent them a letter threatening High Court action if they continued to interfere.
The letter stated that plans for the halting site had been agreed with the Travellers, and that if the council did not fulfil its obligations under the contract, it was liable to financial penalties.
"Any alteration in the plans would require to be renegotiated with all the parties and that is simply not viable at this stage," it said.
Mr Patrick McDonagh, one of the Travellers protesting at the site, said: "We took the action on Monday because what the council is building for us is basically an open prison with 6ft high walls all around the site.
"Why would the council want to build walls so high? We are being penned in like animals. The location of the site is very bleak and is in the middle of nowhere."
He claimed the site was relocated away from the road in response to a request from local residents. He added that after receiving the letter yesterday, "we are in a Catch 22 situation".
"We do not want to end up in court or break the law, but we do not want to move into this site. Now after receiving the council's letter we are going to discuss with each other what to do next."
He said the Travellers had made several submissions to the council over the unsuitability of the site but all had been ignored.
The chairman of Ennis Town Council, Mr Peter Considine, said yesterday that the Travellers' move to prevent work at the Beechpark site represented "a huge setback for the council's Traveller accommodation programme".
He said: "I am hugely frustrated and disappointed at what has happened. The local community has bent over backwards to facilitate the Travellers, and negotiations with the Travellers and the community in relation to this site have been ongoing for the past two years."
The chairman of Clare County Council, Mr Richard Nagle, said he was disappointed and surprised by the Travellers' move.
"Every possible effort is being made to provide accommodation for the Travellers and it is disappointing that Travellers would seek to prevent accommodation being provided for them when they are so vocal about the need for proper accommodation."